Deny the Urge – As Darkness Falls

Formed in 1998, DENY THE URGE from Braunschweig, Germany, have produced three studio albums to date: “Subsequent Confrontation” (2004), “Blackbox of Human Sorrow” (2007), and “As Darkness Falls”, the album before us, released in 2017. They have a fairly malevolent style that I’d hesitate to call blackened. It’s just sinister, but very much within the confines of death metal for the most part. The bass production is thick and thunderous (see “Perfect Disguise”), as suits the approach.

The licks here are often short, producing a repetitive feel on a number of occasions, especially on “As Darkness Falls” and the first half of “Loophole”. There’s also something about the range of notes used for the guitar work that makes the riffs sound like very slight permutations of each other rather than a specific tune. That said, at about the one-minute mark the latter track brings out a handful of enjoyable changes. Otherwise, this issue crops up a number of times on the album, particularly when the band enter the lurching crunch-wheedle contrasting riff pattern ubiquitous in anything the creator wants to be crushing – or br00tal, to use the less charitable term. It’s not a slam album but there are a fair share of monotonous power-chord-based riffs here. “Separated Flesh” is defined by such a section beginning at the halfway point and continuing until the end of the album.

There are a couple of standout tracks, however: “Vatermoran” is an excellent atmospheric interlude moving into ambient distorted guitar – reminds me a lot of “Dagon Rising” by PERSUADER. “Medusa” is definitely the most readily identifiable track. It’s a well-honed pummeling barrage of drum and guitars that reminds me of KRONOS, and anything that puts me in mind of French tech-death is good in my book. “The Processing” is another welcome textural change, a mid-to-downtempo track that’s somewhat more atmospheric and contemplative whilst still being appropriately heavy.

“As Darkness Falls” is a decent entry in the field of particularly malevolent death metal. The slam elements could be better integrated, but they’re not as ostentatious or jerky as they are in actual slam bands, so the band deserve credit for better composition. The album isn’t memorable, but it’s redoubtably solid.